300 axed as Renold battles downturn

ENGINEERING group Renold has shed 300 jobs and could cut more unless market conditions improve. The group, which plunged into the red for the first half, said trading in its key North American and European markets was 'difficult' and that the the 11 September attacks had delayed recovery.

The job losses are spread throughout the US, UK and Europe, cutting the firm's headcount to fewer than 3,000. 'We're keeping the pressure on our cost base,' said finance director Tony Brown. 'If conditions continue to deteriorate then we'll react accordingly.'

The precision engineering group, which makes and supplies chains, gears, machine tools and rotors, posted pre-tax profits of £2m for the six months ended September, down from £5.1m a year earlier. Turnover fell to £97.6m from £106.6m.

But closure costs of £4.6m and redundancy costs of £1.8m pushed it £5.1m into the red, from a £4.3m profit last time. Renold slashed the interim dividend to 1.5p a share from 3.1p, and said the full-year payment was also threatened.

Renold said its focus on core markets and customers should reap benefits in the second half of the financial year.